Dune II is often considered the first mainstream modern real-time strategy game and established many conventions of the genre. Even though set in Frank Herbert's famous Dune universe, the game is only loosely connected to the plot of any of the books or the films based from them. Controlling either of the three Houses, the player must fight a number of battles against the other Houses. In the early levels, the goal is simply to earn a certain number of credits, while in the later missions, all enemies must be destroyed. The single resource in the game is the Spice, which must be collected by harvesters. The spice is converted to credits in a refinery, which are then spent to construct additional buildings and units. There are two terrain types: buildings can only be constructed on stone, while the Spice is only found on sand. However, units moving on sand attract the large sandworms of Dune, who are virtually indestructible and can swallow even large units whole. As levels progress, new and more advanced buildings and units are made available, including structures like a radar station, a repair facility or defense turrets and, for units, various ground troops, light vehicles and tanks. Each House can construct one unique special unit, and, after building a palace improvement, can unleash a unique palace effect.
Released on
Genres
Reviews View More
but it's also the best soundtrack in history and it could be glued to a videogame that sucked ass and still be amazing. (of course this is a nonsense sentiment because what's great about it is that it captures the sublime desolation of arrakis and the energy and aggression of the technofeudal armies locked in a forever war over its resources, but you get the idea.) frank klepacki & dwight okahara greatest of all time
also i guess people might not realize this today but the fact that operation desert storm, george bush senior's first invasion of iraq, was on the news all over the world all day every day in early 1991 -- something i have only a very hazy recollection of -- really contextualized this game and its world in a way nothing else could
Edit: So a guy on a Discord Server told me to play the DOS version. It was good.